25/05/2015 Chest, Rope and Abs

Today after a day off on Sunday to allow for my post stag party hangover, I combined my chest workout from earlier last week and the battle rope/ab circuit.

• 3 x 20 bodyweight squats. This warms up the body and get the blood moving, even for a chest work out, as it just lets your body know things are going to start happening.
• 3 x sets Flat bench press
• 3 x sets Incline bench press
• 3 x sets Decline bench press

All sets were done at 60-70% 1 rep max until failure, or rather 1 rep before failure as I don't have a spotter at the moment

Between each set I immediately moved to complete 12 kettlebell swings with a 24kg bell.

3 x sets lying pullovers using a bench for support.  I used a 24kg kettlebell but you can use a dumbell or as I do sometimes a 25kg weight plate.

4 x sets heavy barbell shrugs 80-90% 1 rep max. Sets done to failure

6 x sets 14 side bends with 24kg kettlebell.  I do these slow to ensure that I feel the squeeze and muscles contract.  This also helps to stretch out my sides and back.

100 x Sits with no rest inbetween.

For the ab circuit:

20 minutes using the same 50 seconds on and 10 second rest as previously.  It only had two stations:

• Battle rope
• Abs/core.  We each performed exercises as we saw fit for this station e.g. sit ups, leg raises, hip thrusts

This was a nice start to the day and as the day went on I could really feel that my system had been taxed.

Blackboard Build

As part of converting my garage I decided to put up a blackboard so that I can write out workouts and keep track of where I am if needed.  I find this does help as it gives you a bit of motivation.

You don't need to go and buy on as it's easy to make one yourself,just keep it a bit cleaner than I do!

You will need:

• A board of the size shape you want. It doesn't have to a square or a rectangle if you want to be creative.  Any firm material is fine I used an old piece of ply wood that was knocking round the garage but an firm board is fine.

• Black board paint.  I paid about £3 for a medium sized tub from Wilkinsons.  This had more than enough paint in it and it's seems to have barely been touched so if I want to make more I can.

• Something to fix the board with.  I used screws and wall plugs, but depending on the material and size of your board is made of you may be able to get aware with an adhesive or hanging it with picture hooks.

Right then you have everything above.  All you need to do now is put down some newspaper to paint on and put the board on it.  get a small cheap roller for £1-£1.50 with it's own tray (don't worry about specialist rollers).  Pour a bit of the paint out and get rolling.  Once you have applied one coat, wait 15 minutes or so and then apply a second coat.  Leave it to dry fully then depending on how you intend to put it up either, screw, stick or hang it in position and you are good to go.

23/05/2015 pre drinks gauntlet

Had a rest day yesterday as I was on taxi duty for my other half as she attended a hen party. So after a late night and a short lie in, it's my turn to go off and ruin my health with an afternoon and evening of drinking on a stag party in bristol.

The benefit of a home gym is that I can get a session in regardless of most time constraints so Rees no excuse for missing out my training today.  Whilst on a Saturday I would normally do my long heavy bag rounds I fancy some weights today so I opted for a gauntlet comprising my deadlift circuit from earlier this week with followed immediately by the bench press circuit that my friend interrupted me in the middle of on Thursday. 

As is usual at the moment it's 20 50 second rounds with 10 seconds rest:

First circuit:

• 2 x Round the worlds
• 6 x kettlebell clean and press
• 3 x kettlebell swings 
• 3 x dead lifts
• Then alternate barbell clean and press, KGB swings and deadlift until the end of 20 rounds 

Second circuit:

A more tradtional circuit with everything done in turn until the end of 20 rounds. Exercises are:

• Alternate leg lunges
• Bench press
• Barbell clean and press
• Heavy kettlebell swing
• Sit-ups 

Then finally after a short break for water I finished with 120 sit-ups.  

Surprisingly whilst tired and sweating buckets, after a short rest as I was tidying up, I felt refrsherd and was tempted to add in the rope and sit-up rounds at the end but though it best not to as I would be drinking soon and didn't want to deplete myself to much.

The theory behind the circuits that I complete at the moment is to train endurance in as many compound movements as possible to maximise work rate and increase muscle use and calorie expenditure.  They all have at least one of the classic compound moves in them e.g. Deadlift, squat, bench press.

The plan is in a few weeks to focus on power for a week just to keep the ability to lift heavy up.  However I am restricted in this for some movements by the availability of a spotter as I do not want to be that idiot who ends up stuck under his weights or worst badly injured by not having a spotter to help.

21/05/2015 General Circuit & Rope and abs

After doing chest for the first time in a long time yesterday I was feeling a little sore, but not to the extent that I was not able to get a workout in tonight.  So the plan was to do a circuit with some bench presses in it to help keep my chest mobile and work out some of the soreness whilst working the rest of my body with sets of lunges and kettlebell swings.  I got started on this and about half way through was interrupted by my mate Paul who popped in and wanted to join in.

After starting again the circuit got changed to accommodate him as below:

20 minute circuit with 50 seconds work periods and 10 seconds rest

• Deadlifts
• Clean and Press, or kettlebell clean and press alternate arms
• Kettlebell swings 
• Goblet squat

After a short rest to bring the heart rate down, gossip and have some water we did a second circuit for cardio and abs/core.  Again this was 20 minutes using the same 50 seconds on and 10 second rest as above.  It only had two stations:

• Battle rope
• Abs/core.  We each performed exercises as we saw fit for this station e.g. sit ups, leg raises, hip thrusts

The ropes are knackering, when working at a good pace they sneak up on you and really push your heart rate.  As a piece of equipment they were quite cheap to purchase £20 and don't take up a lot of room.  As for an anchor point I just thread it through a 24kg kettlebell that I lean on it's side.  Anyway I feel great after the above and whilst the presses and swings were hard after yesterday these really helped to shake out some of the tightness.  I am aiming for a rest day either tomorrow or Sunday depending on how things work out with some bank holiday plans.

20/05/2015 Chest

Filled up on chicken at lunch time so when I got home I was ready for action and a nice chest workout.  I don't often train chest heavy or on the bench press as I don't often have a spotter.

So the following was done:

3 x 20 bodyweight squats. This warms up the body and get the blood moving, even for a chest work out, as it just lets your body know things are going to start happening.

3 x sets Flat bench press
3 x sets Incline bench press
3 x sets Decline bench press

All sets were done at 60-70% 1 rep max until failure, or rather 1 rep before failure as I don't have a spotter at the moment

Between each set I immediately moved to complete 12 kettlebell swings with a 24kg bell.

3 x sets lying pullovers using a bench for support.  I used a 24kg kettlebell but you can use a dumbell or as I do sometimes a 25kg weight plate.

4 x sets heavy barbell shrugs 80-90% 1 rep max. Sets done to failure

6 x sets 14 side bends with 24kg kettlebell.  I do these slow to ensure that I feel the squeeze and muscles contract.  This also helps to stretch out my sides and back.

100 x Sits with no rest inbetween.

I made sure that I did all movements with control and correct form, at the end I was sweating.

What weights

For my home gym I have a simple set of Olympic weights bought off ebay to keep costs down. I won't pretend that finding a deal was as easy as other might make out as it wasn't.  Olympic weights tend to hold their value and do seem to be in high demand.  

Eventually I managed to get a set for £150 with the following:

2 x 25kg
2 x 20kg
2 x 15kg
2 x 10kg
2 x 5kg
2 x 2.5
2 x 0.5kg

They are rubber coated with tri grip.  Whilst the rubber coating is not essential I would say for a home gym the tri grip is as it allows there to be a number of extra uses for the weights that there usually wouldn't be.  This includes shrugs and farmers walks among others.

I also had a standard silver 7ft barbell as part of the price that it fine for the purpose I need at home.  If you are in to specialised lifting sports, Olympic lifting, cross fit then you may want a more expensive bar that is suited to that sport and has different properties such as more whip or better knurling for grip.

I separately purchased a ez super curl bar new from ebay for £20.  This is for curls, rows other lifter lifts that I will do in my circuit.  This avoids the need for changing weights over on the main bar and lets me move between exercises with more efficiency.  Whilst its not essential as all exercises can be done with the straight bar for the price and minimal space it takes up this is a good add on purchase.

I wouldn't recommender getting anything like a trap bar (the hexagional bars you stand inbetween) or farmers walk/shrug bars at this stage as  they are very specialised and take up loads of room, which in a home gym is at a premium.

19/05/2015 Heavy bag workout

Yesterday I thought that I would be doing a chest and leg workout with presses and lunges.  However I am a big believer in doing what your body feels like so still feeling a bit ill with my cold I decided to do a heavy bag work out and see how I felt at the end.

The workout consisted of 20 2 minute rounds with a 30 second rest in between.  I started with jabs/lead arm punches 1 round each side.  Then built to 2, 3 and 4 punch combos.  Then worked in legs.  Towards the end I put in the odd set of sit ups.

After this I felt I still wanted to do some specific chest work and so completed 4 sets of 10-12 reps of bench press.  I plan to do a better chest work out later in the week but am not a fan of doing heavy weights when feeling ill.

A point I must make is that as I am quite experienced with punching, I can hit the bag hard.  Now whether you are or are not experienced I can't recommend wrapping your hands enough as this provides support and help to prevent injuries.  Wraps are not expensive and there are lots of guides on the various different ways to wrap you hands online.  I have a way I like as it supports my and gives protection to the bones in my hand.  Some people prefer to focus on padding the knuckles however I have never found this to be a problem.  I will put a short video together on this when I have the time, and clean wraps!

18/05/2015 Training

I have been suffering from a cold after returning from holiday.  However after a few days of rest I felt the need to get back and do something.

This resulted in a repeat of the 2 x workout circuits from Friday.  Whilst it took a few rounds to get in to the swing of it eventually I could feel my body start to activate and get in to it.  I pushed through making sure to focus on each rep and ensure the best technique that I could.  In the end I was feeling much better and glad that I did the workouts.

The thing that helped most was ensuring that earlier in the day in had a good intake of fuel in the form of chicken and water.  That's the most important thing when suffering from any illness no matter how minor, ensuring that a good intake of water is maintained as whilst you might not believe it the amount of water that is drained from your system it is and it dramatically effects your ability to heal and perform.

All things being well tomorrow it will be time to lunge and bench press.

Cage/Rack/Bench or none?

Cage/Rack/Bench or none?

The first decision I faced was what equipment would I base my gym around.  I like to think that I am an experienced weight lifter albeit I am no bodybuilder or power lifter I can shift enough weight to make the use of a cheap weights set useless.  The immediate thought was I want an Olympic set of weights in a power cage.  The benefits of this being versatility and safety.  The cage having the ability to set spotter bars at numerous heights to protect you should the weights drop. 

The issue with a cage is the space it takes up.in a limited area such as a single garage this can shrink the room dramatically as any other movement outside of the cage is restricted by the uprights.  The other option was for a half rack.  This has only one set of uprights but doesn’t actually take up less floor space than a power cage and sometimes can have a larger footing.  The importance of measuring becomes paramount at this point for obvious reasons. 

The last option I came across was the use of a heavy bench capable of taking Olympic weights.  The key point for this was that I needed a bench that separated from the body of the rack/stand that it was attached to.  This allowed the bench to be used for other exercises and for it to be stored away when needed.  I found that a number of the heavy benches did not offer this option.  Some did though and then it was just a matter of deciding on which one.

Before I say what I chose I suppose that I should mention I considered using squat stands for a long time due to the flexibility they offer and the fact that they can be purchased cheaply.  Whilst I can’t say that I have ever known or heard of a person getting badly injured using squat stands for say bench pressing ect.  I don’t have a lot of confidence in them as when heavy weights are set down on them in a strange angle due to exhaustion they can wobble and come out of line and this can only be a recipe for disaster.  So for that reason alone I wouldn't recommend them.

So finally I chose a Weider 490 bench.  This is a metal powder coated frame that has spotter bar to catch the weights if you drop them.  Both racking bars and spotting bars can be adjusted to a number of different settings which are suitable for a 6ft 2 man to squat off and also allows me to do decline and incline presses.  The bench itself is not attached to the rack which is good for storage and allows the bench to be used for other exercises, such as step ups and dips and anything else you can think of.

Starting back at training in my 30's

I have been training on and off in weights and martial arts since I was around 15 years old.  I have competed in martial arts to a high level but never really taken any training regime to seriously to the extent that I would consider myself a master in any particular field but more a jack of all trades.

Recently I have moved house and am approaching my wedding.  As a result of this I have found there to be a lack of time and availability to visit a local gym.  So I commenced a little project to build a small home gym in my garage.

Now that has pretty much been completed I thought I would write this blog to help keep me motivated, share my training regime and offer any help or advice that I can to others.  I may mix in videos and photographs when relevant and sometimes when not just to keep it interesting for me.  One thing I won't be doing is keeping a note of my weight on the scales. This is as the one thing that I have learn over the ears is that whilst it's nice to track progress, if you are lifting weights and training then you can put on muscle whilst loosing fat and your weight won't change to much.  The best measure is the more practical one, how you feel and how your clothes fit.

So, to begin with today I will be doing one of my favourite workouts, a short 20 minute weighted circuit followed by a second 20 minute circuit of punchbag and ab work.  Then after depending on how I feel some dedicated lifting.

The circuit has 20 50 second rounds with a 10 second rest/transition time.  I try to use as many compound movements as possible in the work out to maximise the work done and metabolic response.  As we get older it's important to ensure that our metabolism (that slows as we age) is pushed to ensure that it stays high.

I will do the exercises using 2 x barbells (one is an ez bar to allow me to do extra exercises at a different weight, ideally it would be a straight barbell) and a 2 x kettle bells.

Exercises include:

• Kettlebell round the world (24kg bell is passed hand to hand around my waist) 2 rounds 

• Kettlebell clean and press 16kg or 20kg bells 6 rounds (3 each side)

• Kettlebell 2 handed swings 20kg and 24kg bells 3 rounds
• Deadlift 7ft bar 90kg 3 rounds

• Ez bar clean and press 37kg then alternate single rounds with swings and deadlifts until the timer runs out

The second circuit is alternate rounds on the heavy bag of free punches/kicks with every other round being situps, leg raises, and planks.

Stretching

When I was younger I was flexible.  Now I am not.

I know I was meant to keep stretching all the time but the reality is that I didn't.  Now I can't kick as high and my muscles feel tight as a result.  So going forward I intend to enter a reasonable stretching routine.  By that I mean one that I will actually do after each session rather than some complex long stretching routine that I will just ignore if I have had a hard session.

The stretching routine for now is as below:

6 x 1 minute left and right seated single leg stretch (other leg in to groin)
6 x 1 minute left and right lying hip stretch (e.g. right foot placed on top of left knee then left leg is pulled in.
3 x 1 minute box splits

I won't do any more as then we start getting towards to much time.  Also if I do the above properly I should be able to start some progress on getting more flexibility to ensure that more intense stretches can be added on alternated.